Poland-based artist, Igor Dobrowolski paints stirring portraits that dive into the subject’s personal history and explores their past tragedies. In such delicately rendered works, Dobrowolski touches on topics like death, depression, apathy, and poverty. The portraits themselves are often obscured and overlaid with symbolic imagery and inscriptions. The inscriptions betray the subject’s mood, their inner struggle with depression or hardship. Or sometimes, they dive into detail about a tragic moment in the person’s past.

In creating these heartfelt and sympathetic portrayals, Dobrowolski hopes to bring some hint of light back into the lives of both his subjects and the viewers. “I do not deceive myself with the salvation of the world, but maybe my work and the work of others, not necessarily in the art world, will help fix something,” he states. “I hope that my work is such a minimal part of something good.” [h/t boredpanda.com]